A friends' mother has a 1995 Mystique for sale that she bought used four years ago. I was looking at it today and commented to my buddy that besides having such high mileage (200,000 + kms), that the car was in pretty decent shape and very clean. His mother is only asking $1100 for it, the car is inspected until Sept. 2006, it has AC that works, some power options and the interior is spotless. He said the only thing wrong with the car, and it had done this since his mother bought it, is the following.
If you accelerate heavily, the transmission will not shift out of first gear. It will shift if you let up on the throttle, but if you floor the throttle pedal, it refuses to shift from its current gear. It will redline until the throttle is backed off, and then it upshifts. I didn't ask to take a drive in the car, but the way he described the problem, you almost have to drive it as if it were a manual transmission, listening to the revs of the engine and letting up on the throttle when it should automatically shift gears. He said the transmission does not slip or make any odd noises and also said that if you floor it on pavement, the transmission will spin the tires. It also downshifts correctly, and he said it has been doing this since she bought the car, she just learned to let up on the throttle. So, it doesn't sound like anything mechanically related is at fault. To me, it sounds like a faulty VSS or some other type of electronic sensor or component. Once it reaches its overdrive top gear, it drives perfectly.
If anyone who has come across some or all of these symptons on either a Mystique or Contour and knows the solution, I would appreciate hearing from you. BTW, this is a 4 cyl., 2.0L engine.
Thanks Sharky